Ramblings of the Mad Man in Beaverdam

Monthly Archives: January 2012

We have finally joined the twentieth centuary here at Pipe Dream Farm.
Of course it took us 12 years into the 21st century to do it but that is the price we pay for living where we do.
The major step we took is that effective today we have DSL at the house.
I got it hooked up today and it is nearly as fast as what I have at work and I only signed up for the slow speed.
I still do not have it competely registered but it is working as evidenced by this post.

When I try to register it gets to an error page and it tells me to call customer service. I did yesterday and got put on hold so long that I finally was disconnected by the robot. I figure I will wait til next week when some people come back to work from the month long vactation of ThanksChristmasYear.

The thing is working, and that is what matters to me. Of course just getting it was an adventure in and of itself. I got a card in the mail a while back that said internet service was available from the phone company. Checked on the computer and sure enough it said I was eligible. Saw a phone guy working at the switch box on the corner a mile down the road and asked him and he figured out that I was eligible. There are only two other houses between me and that switch so I figured no way I could get service. The guy told me that I was on the edge but that it should work okay.
So far it is great. Boss says wait til I get the bill before celebrating……

I ordered it over two weeks ago. Then few days later a guy came to the house and did something on the box outside and told Marie we should be good to go. yeah right.
he was assuming that I already had the DSL modem which was supposed to be shipped.

I called centuary link and told them I had no service. the guy started asking questions about the modem….
I told him that it would be easier to answer his questions if I actually had one…..He told me when one had been shipped…..I told him I did not have one….

He said I will ship you another one. waited a week and still no modem….called again….another guy tells me that records show we have shipped you two and that one has been delivered…..

I asked him if he could explain why I was calling then? He apologized and said he would overnight one.

Yesterday two were delivered by UPS and I refused one and took the other…. don’t know where the third one is……

but anyhow I am now able to use the computer at home again….
Of course the laptop just lost its portability…..as that is what is hooked up.

A poor boy can’t win for losing.

Still battling the ribs….yesterday was pretty rough….today has been pretty good….but then the only thing I have been allowed to do today was unload three hundred lbs of cattle pellets and the supervisor was right there telling me how to do it…..It does not hurt to pick up a bag of feed or a bale of hay as long as I go slow. It hurts to toss a pad of hay. Had the boss doing that today. It hurts to push a button on the car radio or adjust the heater controls or reach in certain directions. I can push myself like when rising from sitting or standing but I can not reach out and pull. I will turn loose quick.
Spent the rest of the afternoon hooking this thing up and quasi watching football and napping on the heating pad.

Yesterday I had about decided to relent and go to the doctor….I did call them the other day and they said they did not have an xray tech on duty and to go to the ER. I am not going to the ER for something that happened two weeks ago. I don’t have an emergency….just a pain….If it had punctured a lung of a bowel or a kidney, I would be dead by now so I don’t think it is any of those…..I think I just tore muscles or cartalidge…If I can keep from sneezing it should be okay.

I am reluctant because last time I hurt the ribs I spent several hundred bucks for them to tell me sorry charlie, they just have to heal….Not much we can do for broken ribs…….Then they had me spend several hundred more dollars to chase phantom spots on my lungs with multiple xrays and finally an MRI, which all turned out to be nothing….Doctor enrichment and milking the insurance system to drive up my insurance costs and yours too….

Was talkin to my cousin today. he went thru college on a football scholarship. He was much faster than I was……I said I don’t know how some of these guys play after a couple of weeks with busted ribs…..He laughed and said they don’t feel anything….on game day…..makes me glad I was slow….I wrecked my body enough without doping it up to wreck it more…..but then I guess that is the price of fame and glory for those guys.